Alberta election: Danielle Smith enters final days of campaign on the defensive

Wildrose Leader Danielle Smith on Friday headed into the final weekend of the Alberta election campaign on the defensive, insisting that a candidate who said a white politician was better able to represent the community had simply misspoken.

EDMONTON—Wildrose Leader Danielle Smith on Friday headed into the final weekend of the Alberta election campaign on the defensive, insisting that a candidate who said a white politician was better able to represent the community had simply misspoken.

Smith, whose Wildrose party is leading in the polls and looks set to take over from the Progressive Conservatives on Monday, said her government will not tolerate discrimination against any individuals based on their ethnicity, religion, background or sexual orientation.

But she said Progressive Conservative calls for some Wildrose candidates to be fired are the “last futile gasps of a frightened 41-year-old government” and that “liberal political parties” use stereotypes when they feel threatened.

Calgary candidate Ron Leech told a radio station earlier this week that he speaks for all the community because he is a Caucasian.

“I think as a Caucasian I have an advantage,” Leech said. “When different community leaders such as a Sikh leader or a Muslim leader speaks, they really speak to their own people in many ways. As a Caucasian, I believe that I can speak to all the community.”

The opposition Liberal party, which is expected to be reduced to third-party standing after the election, accused the Wildrose candidates of being bigots. The mayors of Edmonton and Calgary have also stepped into the fray saying there should be stronger condemnation of the remarks.

As proof that Leech was not a racist, Smith introduced the candidate’s campaign manager, Ali Waissi, who is Kurdish originally from Iran and Iraq.

In Edmonton, Premier Alison Redford said the views of Leech and another Edmonton Wildrose candidate, Allan Hunsperger, don’t represent the views and values of Albertans. Hunsperger wrote a blog post saying gays and lesbians who don’t change will be condemned to a lake of fire.

“These are issues raised by a political party that obviously has candidates that are running because they obviously have these views and want to advance these views,” she said. “It’s troubling to me. I really think Alberta has moved beyond that.”

Redford said if those two candidates were running for the Progressive Conservatives, she would fire them.

The election on Monday, when two million Albertans will have the right to vote, looks to be the tightest contest in nearly two decades with the Progressive Conservatives fighting to stay in government against a fast-rising Wildrose Party.

With a last-minute sprint throughout the province for both the PCs and the Wildrose, a new twist emerged after both parties claimed that their supporters have been receiving robocalls.

“Our opponents have recorded a message and are spam dialing voters pretending to be us, to anger Wildrose voters,” Smith tweeted in a message. The Wildrose party has filed a complaint with Elections Alberta and the RCMP over what it claims are dirty tricks involving robocalls.

Progressive Conservatives campaign strategist Stephen Carter said his party’s supporters have also received complaints that they’ve received calls aimed at annoying them and discouraging them to vote.

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